CAMPAIGN 2012

Boy Asks Romney, 'Is It Hard Running for President?'

The candidate talks about the difficulties of getting a good night’s sleep on the road.

MASON CITY, Iowa –- As the inspiration for the musical The Music Man, this town decked itself out in its finest to receive Mitt Romney on Thursday, including hanging 76 trombones around the Music Man Square. But for all the pomp, it was an 8-year-old boy’s simple question that drew the most attention.

“Is it hard running for president?” asked Ben Navratil, who wore a “Romney” bumper sticker on his face.

“That's a darn good question,” the candidate answered. “And the answer is yes and no." He laughed and added, "Sounds like a politician, I apologize.”

Romney then launched into a candid discourse on the difficulties of having to get up early each morning and “sleeping in a strange bed almost every night,” where it’s not always easy to get a proper rest.

“Like the night before last,” he recalled, “we had our bus parked out in front of the hotel in the parking lot there -- I think we were off of Interstate 80 or one of the other interstates -- and the trucks going by, and every now and then one of the drivers liked me and would pull his horn. And so we had a hard time getting to sleep.”

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But he quickly turned to the positives. “The best part of the campaigning is doing what I'm doing now -- it's meeting people across the country and shaking hands and making friends,” he said.

Romney concluded by telling Navratil: “So if you get the chance to do it, make sure and do it. Win or lose, it's a great thing to do."